Land, Air, Water Aotearoa (LAWA)

Environmental website for monitoring results

Before going swimming, you can now check the quality of the water at Nelson’s beaches and rivers by visiting national environmental website LAWA (Land, Air, Water Aotearoa).

The website, is a collaboration between New Zealand’s 16 regional and unitary councils, the Ministry for the Environment (MFE), Cawthron Institute and Massey University.

A New Zealand first, LAWA displays state and trend information for over 1100 freshwater monitoring sites, giving the public access to all of the country’s water quality monitoring in one place and in a common, easy to understand format.

Nelson City Council measures a range of parameters when assessing water quality, including E. coli, nitrogen, phosphorous, water clarity and pH. By using LAWA, you can see how a particular site, catchment or region compares to others around the country. You can also see if the site is improving, stable or degrading.

Follow the links to find out more about annual monitoring summaries describing river and stream health and bathing water quality across the Nelson region.